Always Have a Backup
by lawnmowerelf
Summary: The Master did always love a good backup plan. Spoilers through Last of the Time Lords
1. Chapter 1

The Master had always loved a good back-up plan. Oh, he didn't much care for the fact that a good back-up plan always turned out to be necessary, especially when dealing with the Doctor, but just because he didn't like it was no reason to be stubborn and ignore its necessity. After all, the Master had always prided himself on doing whatever was necessary, no matter how much he might dislike it.

And this plan was sheer brilliance, even if he did say so himself. True, it was a bit less ambitious than most of his other schemes, without the usual trappings for either world domination or destruction, but that was actually a selling point in this case. The Doctor would never see him coming until it was far too late.

It was a pity that there was no place for poor, obedient Lucy in his plans, but she had served her purpose well in bringing him back from the brink of oblivion and sending him back to a very specifically chosen time in the past. And really, when he considered what he could have done, her relatively quiet and peaceful death was actually a mercy. A mercy she deserved for playing her part so well and so faithfully.

He glanced in the mirror, straightening his tie and brushing a speck of lint off his shoulder. His new body really was quite nice, attractive without being attention-catching and able to blend almost perfectly into the background when necessary. Exactly the kind of body that he needed.

So long as he was patient, neither the Doctor nor Harkness would ever see him coming. He would slip under their guard, quietly and subtly, so that they never even noticed him. Until it was too late, until the time was right and he could finally reveal himself. And, oh, how their hearts would break.

It would be sweet and glorious revenge.

The Master chuckled, tapping his fingers lightly on the dresser in the rhythm that, at least in this incarnation, was unobtrusive enough to let him work as slowly as he needed to without the constant war drums spurring him into action. He tugged on the cuffs of his jacket and flashed his reflection a jaunty grin.

Then he took a deep breath and slid back behind the rather bland mask of Ianto Jones.


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn't one of the smoothest transitions into a new body that the Master had ever experienced, but that was to be expected. After all, he didn't have access to the kind of technology that he usually would and he had been forced to rely on dear, sweet Lucy to do almost all of the work. But as he opened his new eyes for the first time, he had to admit that he was impressed with her ingenuity.

He had given her access to enough information for her to make an informed decision on just how far back she would need to travel to find an acceptable body for him, one that would allow him to put his back-up plan into action. There really hadn't been all that many acceptable options for her to choose from, but he had to admit that he was quite impressed with her final decision.

It had only taken him an instant to recognize his surroundings, even in the complete and utter chaos of blood and terror and death. As Harry Saxon he had seen the aftermath of Canary Wharf, and it was not the kind of picture that anyone could possibly forget. Of course, when he had been there the first time things had been cleaned up, at least somewhat.

But Lucy had managed to slip in at just the right moment, after the Daleks and Cybermen were gone but before the rest of Torchwood and UNIT had managed to come in and sweep everything up. She had found one of the few survivors, one who was at least physically in one piece, and slipped his ring on the man's finger.

And poor, traumatized Ianto Jones had practically welcomed the Master's presence in his mind, giving up control of his body and slipping away into the darkness with a sense of almost desperate relief. The Master sighed as he settled more firmly into his new body. It was always so much simpler when they didn't fight him.

He took quick stock of his surroundings, smiling when he realized that there was no one else in sight except for Lucy. At least, no one alive. He grinned at a beaming Lucy, reaching out to pull her into a kiss.

"Oh, this is excellent work, my dear." He blinked at the sound of his new voice, shaking his head and grimacing slightly at the sound of the Welsh accent. That would certainly take a bit of getting used to. "You had better disappear for a bit, though. It wouldn't do for you to meet your former self."

Lucy smiled and nodded, pressing forward for another quick kiss. "I'll be ready whenever you need me, Harry."

The Master almost hated that he would have to kill her fairly soon. It was rather difficult for him to find adequate companions, and Lucy really was one of the best, but she simply wouldn't fit into his new life. It was somewhat disappointing, but necessary.

Once Lucy was out of sight the Master pushed himself to his feet, trying to get a proper feel for his new body and trying to get himself into the proper state of mind to become Ianto Jones, at least on the surface. The moment he felt he looked appropriately traumatized he set off down the corridor, one hand bracing himself against the wall.

After only a few moments he stumbled across a partially-converted woman that a swift flip through Ianto's memories identified as Lisa Hallet, his new host's girlfriend. For a long moment the Master gave serious consideration to attempting to smuggle her to Cardiff the way Ianto would have. After all, she would be an intriguing project to work on while he waited for the timing to be right.

Eventually, though, he shook his head and continued on down the hallway, Lisa's cries of pain and disbelief echoing behind him. She would have been an interesting diversion, but gaining Harkness's trust would be so much more difficult if he was hiding a Cyberman in the basement.

And once he had Harkness's trust, he could use the good captain to get to the Doctor, and if he was especially fortunate, the incredibly irritating Martha Jones. He tapped his fingers lightly against the wall as he walked, expression still carefully held in a mask of shock and horror.

It was going to be so much fun.


	3. Chapter 3

Getting a transfer to Cardiff was surprisingly easy. Appearing to be properly traumatized while still completely sane, however, was a bit more difficult. He managed, though, and once all the arrangements were made he met up with Lucy again.

It was almost too easy. All it took was a quick kiss hello and he was in the perfect position to break her neck. Her death was quick and painless, and she never even saw it coming. It was the least he could do for her after her excellent service.

He didn't quite regret killing Lucy, as regret would imply that he would have done things differently given the opportunity, but he did hate that it had been necessary. She had been beautiful and bright, and above all else she had been fiercely loyal. And as much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, it was actually rather lonely without Lucy to listen to his plans and occasionally even make intelligent comments.

Instead, he was forced to pretend to be Jack Harkness's tea boy, though where that odious man who called himself a doctor had come up with such a silly nickname was anyone's guess since he only made coffee, which he had to continually keep himself from poisoning. Poisoned coffee wasn't very imaginative, but there were times when he thought that the sheer satisfaction of seeing Harper dead would be worth it.

Sleeping with Harkness wasn't exactly a hardship, though that really had more to do with his sheer glee in knowing just how horrified the Captain would be if he knew just who he was fucking than any sort of skill on Harkness's part. Oh, he wasn't bad in bed, but the Master had certainly had better.

He waited patiently until the-year-that-would-have-been (if-the-Doctor-hadn't-ruined-his-plans-yet-again-and-erased-it) and finally let himself have a little fun. After all, if he was the only one who would remember it, and everything reset itself later, what could be the harm?

He killed Tosh fairly quickly as she wasn't really that annoying for a human, at least not compared to the other two, and he didn't actually hate her. He took his time with Cooper and Harper, however, torturing one while the other was forced to watch. He especially enjoyed Cooper's tears as she tried to reason with him, urging him to fight whatever had apparently taken him over and trying to be supportive even as he slowly bled Harper to death.

He sighed in contentment at the memory. That had been so much fun. It was too bad that time had finally reset itself and they were all alive again.

Of course, he could always kill them again, which wasn't something he was usually able to do, and he amused himself while he waited for Harkness to return by imagining all of the various ways that he could do it. Of course, he'd have to wait until after he'd found the Doctor again to do it, but he could wait.

After all, time was something that he had plenty of.


End file.
